The frustrations in the approval process with the board were real and raised by Dubas throughout the season.
I am told by several sources that the fact that there was a process wasn't the problem, but rather the timing was what frustrated Dubas. An example given was that Dubas would work on something, and would get it to a point where he would need approval. He would then need to get Shanahan up to speed so he could get approval from the board (and to be clear we are talking about significant moves only) and that approval would take up to 3 days to come back. In that time, as you can imagine the opportunity may well have passed. Dubas wanted to pursue big name, high-end defencemen and I am told that this process specifically precluded him from doing so.